Deal breakers Archives

About a month ago I wrote a guest post on That Happened To Me about a date that I went on. As you can read in the post, the date was pretty freaking awesome and it was the first time in quite sometime that I really wanted a second date. I mean truly wanted to see the guy again. But, the second date never happened even though he pretty much planned the entire thing with me.

I recently received an email from a reader asking for advice. She doesn't want me to share her entire email with everyone so I am just going to give you the gist.

She recently met a guy from an online dating site and they have been spending time together. However she is a bit confused due to the fact that he's openly admitted that he is divorced, meets other chicks from the dating site, and is really hung up on woman he met a few months ago who currently has a boyfriend. So she wants to know if he is interested in her or just wants to be friends.

I received a message today on OkCupid. I am not positive if I would consider it an online dating message gone bad because it's definitely not the worst I have ever read. However, I am not really sure how I feel about it and it raised a few interesting thoughts/questions.

I've always been the girl who wanted a boyfriend who was friends with my friends. And I don't mean they play nice together when we are hanging out. No, I mean actual friends. You know the kind of friends who actually know things about one another. Maybe even hang out together when I am not around.

Call me totally crazy, but that is how I felt. My friends are important to me, always have been and always will be. In fact, I even consider my really close friends to be part of my family. So I guess it just seemed normal to want a guy to be a part of that. I can openly admit that I have had second thoughts about a guy who I thought might not "fit in" with my circle of friends.

I love Sundays. Generally they are a pretty relaxing day for me. I drink a lot of coffee and write a lot. Sometimes I read and just try to relax. Actually, I am even known to cook a meal or two on Sundays. Another great thing is that Sundays are usually a great day for television, which is where I get to admit to watching some of the really lame shows that I actually watch.

I tend to be drawn to MTV occasionally on the weekends. There is often a marathon of shows like True Life or Made and what can I say, I am a fan of those shows for the most part. Hey it's a little better than my addiction to Teen Mom.

At any rate, earlier today I caught an episode of True Life which was about people who lived at home with their parents. I am pretty sure it's a fairly old episode of the show, but it's one that I hadn't watched before.

On the show there was a guy who was 30-something and still lived with his mom. He openly admitted to being a mama's boy and said he just hadn't had the desire to move out yet. He also openly admitted that he's never had a serious girlfriend and that he thinks it would be a little difficult to bring a lady friend home to his mom's house.

Recently I made a new friend. I kind of use the term friend loosely here as I have been engaging in a little flirtation with him. Read that as I have been flirting my ass off. He knows it and it seems to be pretty mutual.

Anyway, upon getting to know this guy, he has openly admitted to me on more than one occasion that he is a really shy guy - actually to be technical here he is a shy guy who is also on the clean cut side. This is generally the kind of guy that I have a really hard time meshing with and I know it's a problem for other women too.

A couple of days ago I read an awesome post over on the Queer Guy Tells It Straight. The post was about text dating, in other words people who use texting as their main form of communication while dating. I honestly couldn't agree more with his post and it made me want to throw my two cents in.

I've been thinking a lot lately about this whole idea that women are too picky. It's not a big secret that people often think women dump men for silly things like wearing white socks with black pants or brown shoes with a black shirt and so on. I've known many women like that and I can admit that there was once a time that I found myself saying things like that when I realized I was losing interest in a guy.

I'm going to make a really huge and personal confession here. I am a grammar and spelling whore. Yes, I said it and it felt good and no I am not ashamed. Translation? It's a pretty necessary thing for any guy I date to know basic grammar and spelling. Now, this might seem like it's not that big of a deal or really all that hard to find but trust me it is. And anyone that has ever dated on the internet can vouch for me.

Anyone who knows me will tell you I am a pretty impatient person, I always have been. I am the type of person who likes to get things done and I always go after what I want. It's part of what brought me to the city - I need the hustle, the noise and all it's craziness. These are things that just seem natural to me, it's who I am. Sometimes I wonder, though, if it makes me give up too easily.

My friends sometimes think I am too open-minded; I often think they are crazy. I have always been a person who doesn't like to play by the rules, just ask my mother and my sister. It seems so easy to miss out on life when you are so busy worrying about the list of things you should be doing. Though, I have been noticing lately that this can be a problem with it comes to dating. And it's important to remember there is a huge difference between standards and rules.

Anyone that knows me really well can tell you that there are certain things about my life that I am super anal about. For instance, I fold my towels all the same way and they are organized on the shelf by color. It's my system, always has been, and I don't like it when people mess with my system. When it comes to dating, however, I tend to be pretty laid back and open minded.

Let me start by saying that I am talking about both women and men here. You can call it my little disclaimer if you will, but I really feel this is a principle that applies to both sexes. Not that I am perfect (trust me I will be the first to name all my flaws if you ask me), but I personally feel pretty special when a guy I like wants to date me. So in return I like to try to show that as best I can.

When you first meet someone, they are generally pretty sweet and try to impress you, which generally continues at least through the first few dates. Sometimes, however, this nice thing stops and is replaced with the person's unwillingness to admit they like you. This generally happens because the person gets comfortable with the idea that you like them which then develops a cocky attitude. You know the whole idea that you like them so they can do no wrong.

Once again, I have yet another message to share from OkCupid to continue with my series Online Dating Messages Gone Bad.

This is actually a pretty short but not so very sweet message. As always I didn't change the message in anyway, just omitted any personal information. This is what was in my inbox:

Subject line: dtf

Message: you look like a girl who is dtf

I received an email the other day from a woman I know who is having a little dilemma with a guy she's recently started seeing. Here is the gist:

She met a guy through mutual friends and they immediately hit it off. A few days later they met for a quick drink and then that weekend they had their first "formal" date. Though he ended the date with a kiss she seems a little thrown by him. First, he asked her out via text, which is a huge no no in her book. Second, he didn't offer to pay for any of the date at all. Essentially she isn't sure if she should keep seeing him or not.

One of my fellow bloggers Sex and the Windy City, brought up a really interesting point the other day when I wrote about drinking on the first date. She asked "what if you like to drink and your date is a non-drinker, is that a deal breaker?"

When I wrote for examiner.com, one of my dating don'ts involved the subject of who should pay on a date. More specifically how you shouldn't be rude about paying for a date. Let's face it first date etiquette can be a little tricky especially when it comes to who should pay. It's an age old question and honestly I am not sure if there is a right or wrong answer, it's just something you have to deal with.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/iwona_kellie/ / CC BY 2.0

Continuing with my series called Online Dating Messages Gone Bad, I thought I would share this one.

The other day I was on OkCupid checking messages when I received an instant message. For those of you that don't know, OkCupid has its own instant messaging service so you can chat with other members. This is something I actually kind of like because it makes sending a message to a total stranger a little bit easier.

It is my firm belief that if a guy only calls you on a Monday night that he's probably not worth your time. Now, I don't really mean Monday literally here, but more metaphorically. You know the guy that I am talking about. He calls you on Monday to see what you are doing and wants to do something that night, never making any sort of plans with you. Sometimes the calls continue through Tuesday or Wednesday but then they stop. Then all of a sudden he resurfaces as the next Monday rolls around.

When you are dating guys over say the age of 25, it is inevitable that they have been on a date or two. Which also makes it pretty inevitable that they have kissed a girl and probably done all that sexual stuff too. Now, I am sure there is a 29-year-old out there somewhere that hasn't really been on a date with a woman. However, most of them have been around the block one or twice (some of them more times then they care to admit).